With a vehicle, and so forth that are provided with a luggage room behind occupant seats inside a vehicle compartment, there is the risk of luggage loaded in the luggage room jumping over a seat back to fall onto the occupant seats at the time of, for example, abrupt reduction in speed. In order to solve such a problem, there has been in use a load collapse prevention device for providing a partition between the occupant seats, and the luggage room by extending a net therebetween. As shown in FIG. 4, a conventional load collapse prevention device has a structure in which stays 2, 3, each in the shape of a bar extending in a vehicle-width direction, are joined with upper and lower edges, respectively, of a net 1 of a size large enough to serve as a partition between the occupant seats, and the luggage room, and is used by fitting the stay on the side of the lower edge of the net to a plurality of fittings provided in the rear face of the seat back or the luggage room, and detachably fitting both ends of the stay 2, on the side of the upper edge of the net, to a pair of holders 5 fixedly attached to parts of the inner wall of the vehicle compartment, at both ends thereof, in the vehicle-width direction, on the side of the ceiling, respectively, so as to oppose each other.
A conventional stay 2 and holder 5 are described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7. A joint 6 is inserted into the both ends of the stay 2, in the vehicle-width direction, so as to be slidable in the vehicle-width direction, against the stay 2, and is urged by a compression coil spring (not shown), in a direction to cause it to protrude outward from the stay 2, in the vehicle-width direction, all the time. A flange 7 in a disc-like shape is formed integrally with a protruding end of the joint 6, and a dimension between respective extremities of the flanges 7, in the vehicle-width direction, in a state where the joint 6 is most protruded from the stay 2, is set so as to be slightly larger than a dimension of a room-width. As a result, even if there occurs some variation in the dimension of the room-width, the joints 6 can be engaged with the holders 5, respectively.
The holder 5 for engaging the joint 6 has an under face 5B pressed onto the inner wall 9 of the vehicle compartment by a bolt (not shown) inserted into a bolt hole 8 to be thereby fixedly attached thereto. The holder 5 is provided with a guide groove 10 resembling the letter T in section, formed for engaging the flange 7. In the guide groove 10, there are formed an upper lead-in part 11A open to an upper face 5A side of the holder 5, a lower lead-in part 11B, and a guide groove ridge 11C to be linked with an R part 11D of a stopper. The upper lead-in part 11A, and the lower lead-in part 11B are formed such that the respective right ends thereof are positioned on the left side of the right end face 5C of the holder 5, and an interval therebetween, in the vertical direction, is slightly larger than a diameter of the flange 7.
The lower lead-in part 11B is gently tilted upward toward the left side (the forward side of the vehicle compartment) to be linked with the right side of the guide groove ridge 11C, and the left side of the guide groove ridge 11C is linked with the lower end of the R part 11D. The upper lead-in part 11A is gently tilted downward toward the left side (the forward side of the vehicle compartment) to be linked with the upper end of the R part 11D. The R part 11D is formed smaller in diameter than the flange 7. Further, in the guide groove 10, there are formed a guide groove upper face 12A, guide groove lower face 12B, guide groove inner face 12C, and guide groove outer face 12E to be linked with an R part 12D of the stopper. The respective right ends of the guide groove upper face 12A, guide groove lower face 12B, and guide groove outer face 12E are open to the right end face 5C of the holder 5. The guide groove upper face 12A, and guide groove lower face 12B are formed such that an interval between the respective right ends thereof, in the vertical direction, is slightly larger than the diameter of the flange 7.
The guide groove lower face 12B is gently tilted upward toward the left side (the forward side of the vehicle compartment) to be linked with the lower end of the R part 12D. The guide groove upper face 12A is gently tilted downward toward the left side (the forward side of the vehicle compartment) to be linked with the upper end of the R part 12D. The R part 12D of the stopper is formed so as to be larger in diameter than the flange 7. A step 13 is formed around the bolt hole 8 of the guide groove outer face 12E, and the bolt hole 8 is covered by putting a blind cover (not shown) with a thickness identical to a height of the step 3, on the step 3, so that the guide groove outer face 12E has no stepped part.
An operation for fitting the stay 2 to the conventional holders 5, described as above, is executed as follows.
Since the dimension between the respective extremities of the flanges 7, in the vehicle-width direction, is set so as to be slightly larger than the dimension of the room-width, the joints 6 are caused to undergo retraction. In this state, the flange 7 is inserted into the guide groove 10 from the side of the right end face 5C of the holder 5 as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 5 (the flange 7 at a position P1). When the stay 2 is pushed in the forward direction of the vehicle compartment, the flange 7 is guided by the guide groove upper face 12A, guide groove lower face 12B, guide groove inner face 12C, and guide groove outer face 12E to thereby cause a head 6A of the joint 6 to ride across the guide groove ridge 11C (the flange 7 at a position P2), whereupon the flange 7, and the head 6A reach the R part 12D, and the R part 11D, respectively, (the flange 7 at a position P3), thereby completing an operation for fitting one of the joints 6. An operation for fitting the other of the joints 6 is executed by repeating the same operation as described above.
Further, there has been known a configuration disclosed in JP-A No. 104074/2002 as Patent Document although the configuration somewhat differs from that for the invention under the present application.
However, the conventional technology described has had shortcomings in that since it is necessary to hold the stay 2 in one hand, and to cause the joints 6 to undergo retraction with the use of the other hand in order to fit the stay 2 into the holders 5, operations with the use of both the hands are required, and the respective joints 6 on the right and left sides cannot be concurrently fitted to the respective holders 5 on the right and left sides, so that an efficient fitting operation cannot be implemented.
The invention has been developed in view of the problem described as above, and it is therefore an object of the invention to form a guide groove for guiding a joint in as-retracted state to a stopper in respective holders to thereby enable the joints to be fitted to the holders, respectively, by one-handed operation, so that the respective joints on the right and left sides can be concurrently fitted to the respective holders with ease.